Belmont Savings Named Best Commercial RE Lender by Peers

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In 2010, the new leadership at Belmont Savings Bank – a small lender with $650 million in assets without much of a business presence in the area – made a decision that the institution’s future would be tied to lending. As larger regional and national banks tightened requirements or simply ignored the mid-sized borrower, Belmont Savings would fill the void by being, as CEO and President Robert “Bob” Mahoney said at the time, “the most admired bank in the Metro West.”

One of those lending area would be commercial real estate; from office space, retail sites and multi-unit housing. In 2011, the bank loaned $9.1 million in construction financing for a 37-unit apartment project, 7 Cameron, in Davis Square, Cambridge. While far from the biggest loan made that year, the bank was willing to work hard to complete the deal.

“[The bank] was a pleasure to work with,” says developer Paul Ognibene, president of Urban Spaces.

“They really took a sensible business approach to the loan,” he said, putting in language in the loan to enable the owner to convert the units to condominiums if the market switch in that favor.

Since then, the bank continues making loans – from a $1.6 million mortgage for a small multi-family on Columbus Avenue in Boston to making a $35 million loan on three office buildings in Waltham – seeing lending growth increase in double digits each year as the bank has doubled in size in less than five years.

That commitment to this core business resulted in the Belmont-based bank winning the “Best Commercial Real Estate Lending” category in Banker & Tradesman’s “Best of 2014” poll.

Banker & Tradesman, New England’s leading real estate and lending business publication, asked leading lenders and real estate pros to choose the best service providers to the real estate and industrial sectors in Massachusetts.

“It is a privilege to be recognized by Banker and Tradesman as their rankings underscore the immense strides we have made in our commercial lending services,” said Mahoney.

“The Best of 2014 distinctions are a clear signal that Massachusetts real estate companies prefer the personalized service offered by Belmont Savings over even some of the nation’s largest financial institutions.”

Earlier this year, Mahoney was honored by the Boston Business Journal as a “most-admired CEO,” an award voted on by BBJ readers in an online poll. The bank has also had recent success increasing its assets twofold over the past three years to $1.2 billion dollars and opening three new in-store branches in Shaw’s supermarkets.

Belmont Savings Bank is a $1.2 billion, full-service Massachusetts savings bank dedicated to quality, convenience and personalized service.

Flash Flood Warning in Belmont Until 10 PM

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Just before noon, Thursday, Oct. 16, the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for eastern Massachusetts including Belmont as torrential rains are expected to arrive in the area coinciding with the afternoon rush hour.

The warning will continue until 10 p.m.

Bands of heavy rain showers will deliver about one to two inches of rain in the afternoon and early evening, according to the NWS. There is a potential that some localized areas could see three to four inches in a short time period.

Be aware of areas that flood during these weather events. They include the Concord Avenue underpass of the commuter rail bridge in Belmont Center, areas of Waverley Street and along Common Street near the Wellington brook.

Sold in Belmont: An ‘As-Is’ Two-Family Takes Its Time Selling

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A weekly recap of residential properties bought in the past seven days in the “Town of Homes.”

For the second week running, only a single house sold in Belmont, according to the MLS.

• 132 Bartlett Ave. Two-family (1925), Sold for: $670,000. Listed at $715,000. Living area: 2,800 sq.-ft. 14 rooms; 5 bedrooms, 2 baths. On the market: 92 days.

The house on Bartlett Avenue – the street was originally named Ripley Road – is a style well known in this area just north of Trapelo Road, the two-family. Second only to the colonial in sheer numbers, two-families were popularized by developers at the turn of the century who subdivided former estates and farmland into smaller, less costly parcels close to the trolley cars that traveled along Trapelo, according to Belmont historian Richard Betts.

Bartlett Avenue was laid out in 1906 by Everett Benton (as in the Benton Library and the former Benton Estate) who divided four existing lots into 13, one of which is the location of 132 Bartlett. The two-family allowed a new generation of middle-class workers to enjoy a suburban lifestyle.

 

Breast Cancer Car Wash Fundraiser This Saturday, Oct. 18

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After today’s rainstorm and all the muddy puddles your car will be splashing through, the next step will be finding a place to wash your car. In Belmont, that would be Belmont Car Wash in lovely Waverley Square.

On Saturday, Oct. 18, you can clean your vehicle while supporting Belmont High School’s service club’s fight against breast cancer.

From 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., The Belmontian Club will partner with Belmont Car Wash in its annual fundraiser for Belmont High School’s “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer” team. The club, whose members will be out there drying vehicles, will receive all tips for the day and $1 per car for Belmont Car Wash.

The money raised goes to the American Cancer Society’s efforts for breast cancer research, prevention, education and patient outreach and support

So far this year, the team has raised approximately $6,500 for breast cancer research.

Rain Won’t Stop Today’s Belmont Farmers Market

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While rain is on the way, the Belmont Farmers Market will take place today, Thursday, Oct. 16 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Belmont Center municipal parking lot at the corner of Cross Street and Channing Road.

The fall harvest is under way with apples. pears and root vegetables in abundance.

Guest vendors today are Westport Rivers Winery, DC Farm Maple Syrup, Sugar + Grain, Underwood Greenhouse, Seasoned and Spiced, joining the weekly vendors.

There will be no food truck this week.

In the Events Tent

• Face painting for kids and adults with Belmont resident Amber Espar from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

• Storytime in the Events Tent
 will tales about food & farms, for preschool and older children, 4 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

• The Hoot Owls return to play old time string band music, 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Cushing Square Developer Seeks Equity Partner, Buyer for Delayed Project

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After more than a year of promises and delays, the developer of Cushing Village – the nearly 167,000 square-foot, multi-use development in the heart of Belmont’s Cushing Square – is actively seeking an equity partner or is hoping to sell the project’s development rights to the highest bidder as financial constraints have plaguing the project.

Beginning this month, a big-time Boston commercial real estate search firm hired by Cushing Village’s developer Acton-based Smith Legacy Partners, Inc. has been actively shopping the three-block site to an array of experienced commercial development teams and investors in an attempt to convince one to take on Smith Legacy as a partner, or to purchase the right to build the future home of 115 residential units, 230 parking spaces and nearly 36,000 square feet of retail at the corner of Trapelo Road and Common Street.

In an advertisement distributed to the commercial real estate community, Boston Realty Advisors, the Boylston Street consultancy known for its deal-making prowess, has been or will soon conduct tours of the site – now occupied by abandoned retail and commercial spaces, a laundry and a Starbucks Cafe – as it seeks a “pre-sale or joint venture development opportunity” for the development it describes as “fully permitted and shovel ready.”

Jason Weissman, BRA’s founder and principal, told the “The Real Reporter,” which covers the New England commercial real estate industry, Smith Legacy will seek “creative proposals and will entertain innovative deal structures,” with the opportunity made available “[without] pricing guidance.”

While Chris Starr, the man who has shepherd the project for the past eight years, did not comment, a member of a PR firm working with Smith Legacy was adamant the development will stay with Starr.

“To be clear, Cushing Village is not for sale – Smith Legacy Partners is pursuing partnership opportunities because they realize that others might want to invest in Belmont but there’s no intention to sell the property,” Suzanne Morse, a vice president with O’Neill and Associates wrote in an email.

Yet in its pitch, BRA makes it clear that Cushing Village “represents a rare opportunity to acquire a 163,883 gross square foot mixed-use community, on a pre-sale or joint venture basis, in one of Metro Boston’s most affluent communities.”

Smith Legacy’s apparent need for a partner or buyer would, at first glance, appear unnecessary as the market for mixed-use projects is “ideal” given the advanced recovery is sparking interest in ground-up projects, especially those permitted and ready for launch, one commercial real estate insider told “The Real Reporter.” With interest rates at historic lows, Cushing Village’s residential segment “is especially attractive given the amount of capital chasing that asset class.”

Yet, according to numerous sources within real estate, business and government, the sense Smith Legacy – a first time development team attempting to build a large development – was over-its-head with the development was evident well before the town began the planning process. In the summer of 2011, Starr and his development partner, Cambridge-based Oaktree Development, parted ways, leaving Starr without an experienced hand to reach out to banks, investors and commercial brokers.

“This deal was going south when Oaktree left,” one industry insider told the Belmontonian.

One did not need to scratch the surface very hard to hear reports of Smith Legacy’s difficulties in both securing and then keeping its financing in place. One source indicated Smith Legacy had a tentative financing deal set, but the lender backed out for an unexplained reason.

A lending source told the Belmontonian while many debt providers would listen to the developer’s pitch; none would expand their hand in agreement.

“[Starr] would have placed the biggest sign on the [SS] Pierce Building (the abandoned building where the entry to Cushing Village will be built) announcing the bank doing the deal,” said a person with knowledge of the process. “Do you see one?” they quipped.

Another source said Smith Legacy was caught in a vicious vortex of an inexperienced developer: they lacked the wherewithal to attract financing, and so commercial tenants were leery of committing to long-term leases in a project without financing. Ironically, without tenants, lenders are unwilling to fund a financing deal.

But when Starr received the Planning Board’s final OK to build after a hard-fought design process, all appearance was that Cushing Village would be up and running in record time.

After receiving the Planning Board’s OK in July 2013, Starr announced he would break ground “in a few months” with the first of the three buildings – the “Winslow” which would be located on the municipal parking lot along Trapelo Road and – completed by summer or fall of 2014, with the third building and the parking finished by the spring of 2015.

But other than crews conducting test borings and limited work on preparing the site for development, no activity commenced at the site during the rest of 2014 and into the New Year. Nor would Starr present to town or elected officials a firm financial commitment from an investor or lender.

Suddenly in March, Smith Legacy’s attorney, Mark Donahue, requested the selectmen grant a 30-day extension for the closing date of the purchase and sale agreement for the municipal parking lot until June 27. The pre-approved price for the lot is $850,000.

“We’re working diligently on a number of different fronts,” Donahue told the board, saying Smith Legacy was firming up the Starbucks relocation plans and deciding the site for temporary construction parking. Additionally, Donahue advised the board the construction would “begin between August and October.”

In addition, Donahue sought and was given the right to extend the closing date by 30 days but only by paying the town a $20,000 fee. Since that agreement was in place, Smith Legacy has deposited $80,000 into the town’s coffers.

Starr’s lack of movement on the project had tried the patience of Rojas and the other selectmen who were prepared to set a fall deadline for the municipal lot’s purchase. Only after meetings with town officials was the ultimatum shelved.

This summer, Smith Legacy attempted and failed to convince the Zoning Board of Appeals to allow Starbucks to move from its current location adjacent to the municipal parking lot to a temporary location near the corner of Belmont Street and Trapelo Road.

The future of Smith Legacy holding ownership of the property is not as crystal clear as Starr is telling people. A source told the Belmontonian an established and seasoned development team would not enter into such a deal as a “junior” partner, reducing its involvement to simply being a lender without a say in the development.

This will be at least a 60/40 deal, said a real estate source.

The real value, according to nearly everyone who discussed the project, is in the development rights; the permitting and design agreements with the town.

Smith Legacy’s current predicament – without an finalized financial package, a single new commercial tenant in 14 months (a “tavern” to be managed by a Washington Street resident to open in 2017) and few options – is now being seen as inevitable by many in town.

“This is not a complete surprise,” said Andy Rojas, chair of the Belmont Board of Selectmen who sat on the Planning Board during the majority of the 18 months it took for the town and Starr to cobble together a development deal in July 2013.

“Many involved in the process have for years thought and anticipated that Mr. Starr would need to bring in an experienced equity and development partner,” he said. “I believe that it finally has dawned on Mr. Starr that this is the only way forward for him.”

The need for an experienced hand to build what many would consider a moderate-sized suburban multi-purpose project has become critical in today’s commercial environment said one real estate observer.

“I think a lot of the reasons have to do with lenders being more demanding of higher-equity levels in a project and the developer either finds selling out a better route or if they want to stay in, they can spread the risk some and or use that capital for something else,” said Joseph Clements, founder and editor of the “The Real Reporter”, which covers the New England commercial real estate industry.

Sports: Belmont Girls’ Are Performing Just Swimmingly Poolside

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Last week, the Belmont High School Girls’ Swimming squad had an objective for each duel meet they hosted at Belmont High’s Higginbottom Pool; be competitive with Division 1 powerhouse Andover High School on Monday, find a way to swim by this year’s surprise team, Winchester High, on Wednesday and, finally, take nothing for granted from a rebuilding Reading Memorial High team on Friday.

Done, done and … done.

In the most active week of the swimming season, the Marauders showed a versatility when asked to switch strokes while several underclassmen swam into prominence against Winchester, the meet which Belmont’s long-time Head Coach Ev Crosscup had his team focus on.

“We were building for this week and I can say that so far, the team has met our expectations. I loved their resolve, they didn’t quit,” said Crosscup after Wednesday’s contest in which the Marauders defeated the Red Raiders, 91-77.

There were surprises galore against Winchester – who came into the Higginbottom having defeated perennial Middlesex League contender Reading earlier in the season – both by the matchup decisions Crosscup threw into the pool and from a trio of freshmen who rose to the occasion.

“Winchester I was worried about. They have some good swimmers so I was somewhat concerned,” he said.

With Winchester arriving with a strong group of free stylists, led by standout Kate Fosburgh, Crosscup sought to fight fire-with-fire and placed his best two swimmers – defending Div. 2 100 yard butterfly state champion Jessica Blake-West and breaststroke specialist Emily Quinn (who won a state championship with Blake-West as a member of the 200 yard medley relay) – into three free events early in the meet.

“There was a little bit of a strategy in that. Winchester has several strong distance swimmers so I wanted to match them up with [Blake-West] because I knew she could give her a good race and beat her,” Crosscup said.

“It also makes both of them stronger and have more confidence that they can swim some off events and still win meets,” he said.

For Crosscup, the strategy would play out if his juniors could gain maximum points and several young, inexperienced swimmers could match season best performances.

Trailing after the first event, the 200 medley – despite having the lower time, the referees gave Winchester first place via a “judges decision” – Blake-West went right back to the blocks for the 200 free and won by seven seconds (2:02.09) with Maya Nagashima easily taking third (2:12.66).

Next was Quinn who also won with ease, taking first in the 200 individual medley (2:24.19). Belmont took third and fourth with Elizabeth Levy (2:30.62) and Molly Thomas (2:32.41) to win the event, 11-5, and lead the Red Raiders, 27-19.

Fosburgh showed her strength in the 50 free (1st in 26.96) to inch the Red Raiders closer to their hosts, 33-29.

But Winchester never got closer as Eunice Lee took Blake-West’s place in the 100 butterfly and won going away (1:07.43) with the first of the freshmen, Julia Bozkurtian, taking a strong second (1:09.38).

While Fosburgh took her specialty winning the 100 free, Quinn cracked the minute mark finishing second with frosh sprinter Ophelle Loblack coming in for a solid third (1:00.50) as Belmont split the points, 8 to 8.

Blake-West won the 500 free with clear water, swimming an impressive 5:28.31 (that would have taken fourth place in the state championships). But it was the Marauders’ third swimmer, freshman Caroline Daskalakis, who stole the show, taking on Winchester’s Vanessa Asaro – both swimmers breathing so they could stare down the other – for 300 yards before putting it into another gear to take a vital fourth place in 6:14.15, one place behind Thomas (6:09.00).

With the first, third and fourth place finishes in the 500, Belmont took a 64-46 point lead. While Winchester took first in the 200 free relay and 100 backstroke, Belmont would capture the next three places to keep its 18 point lead.

And when Maya Nagashima and Klaudia Nagrabska went 1,2 in the 100 breaststroke (1:13.78 and 1:18.04), it was all over but the shouting.

While praising his two juniors for providing the winning edge in the meet, Crosscup was ecstatic about the 9th graders response to their first “big” meet.

“We have some great freshmen but you never know how they will do. [Bozkurtian] showed up and swam well. Loblack is good and is getting even better. And [Daskalakis] is a battler and I couldn’t be more pleased with her effort. It could have been so easy, neck to neck, just to back off. She just broke the other girl’s back,” said Crosscup.

On Monday, Belmont would see Andover – which finished second in last year’s Div. 1 state championships – sweep the freestyle events to take an easy 101-79 victory. The highlight was junior Cynthia Kelsey breaking her school one-meter diving record with six dives totaling 276.70 points.

On Friday against Reading Memorial, Crosscup placed Blake-West in the 50 free and she blister a 25.34 to win while Shephanie Zhang took the 200 IM in 2:34.54, winning by .06 seconds.

Picking Up the Check: Pool Committee Hands $411K to Town for Underwood

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Just three-and-a-half weeks ago, Anne Paulsen said she “went home crying” after a meeting with the Board of Selectmen when it appeared the new Underwood Pool may not be built. The board had challenged the pool’s Building Committee to find $400,000 in just over a month or possibly see the entire projected shelved due to a sudden shortfall in funds.

“It was fairly depressing,” said Paulsen, chair of the Underwood Pool Building Committee.

Boy, how four hundred grand can change Paulsen’s demeanor.

On Tuesday, Oct. 15, the Underwood Pool Building Committee – the volunteer group that oversees the design and construction of the new two pool complex to replace the historic 102-year-old facility – presented the Belmont Board of Selectmen $411,000 which was raised to bridge a funding gap which occurred when in late August a low bidder for the $4.1 million construction job suddenly dropped out leaving the committee needing to bridge a $388,000 breach to the next low bid.

Paulsen also announced that just before the meeting, the committee signed a letter of intent with New England Builders & Contractors Inc. of Methuen, the project’s new contractor.

If there is not a lot of snow this year, New England Builders believe it can save most of the 2015 summer swimming season, said Paulsen.

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Unlike the previous meeting with the Selectmen – where the board voiced its frustration at the lack of an “adequate” contingency amount in the pool’s budget – this will a day for happy as the town celebrated the achievement of raising the money in just over 25 days through the effort of residents with a boost from the town’s largest business.

Paulsen praised the efforts of fellow committee member Ellen Schreiber, who led the public fundraising effort, and former Belmont selectman Ralph Jones who, with his family, donated “a significant” amount to the cause in addition to flushing out donors.

Special acknowledgement was directed to the Belmont Savings Bank Foundation – the charitable wing of the Belmont Savings Bank – and the bank’s CEO and President Robert Mahoney who stepped in quickly to donate a $200,000 matching grant “that took what felt like an intimidating, possibly hopeless task and turned it into an exciting challenge,” said Schreiber.

“I had a sense that this was an important project … that it wasn’t just a physical asset but an emotional one,” Mahoney said.

“These were our three pieces of good luck,” said Paulsen.

Schreiber also acknowledged the town’s residents, from lifelong citizens to new families in Belmont for just a few years, who donated every amount from $10 to $25,000.

“People don’t give money for something they don’t care about,” noted Schreiber, who said in her years of fundraising, “I have never seen so much come in so quickly.”

Additional donations over the approximately $390,000 needed to fill the gap continue to come in, the money being placed in the project contingency fund.

“Congratulations to all of you. It was a daunting task at first,” said Selectman Chair Andy Rojas, thanking Mahoney for the bank’s challenge. “We’re happy to see the pool move forward and not miss a step.”

Last Chance to Register for General Election Today, Wednesday, Until 8 PM

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Today, Wednesday, Oct. 15, is the final day to register to vote or make any changes to your party, address or name, to qualify for the Nov 4 state general election.

The Town Clerk’s office will remain open until 8 p.m. to accept voter registrations and changes. The office is located in Town Hall, 455 Concord Ave.

To learn more about registering to vote, HAVA, and upcoming elections, or to print registration forms, please visit the Town Clerk’s website or telephone the Town Clerk’s office at 617-993-2600.